A response to a parliamentary question has revealed that 1,653,295 people migrated to Istanbul in the last five years. Most of the migrants are high school and primary school graduates.

Development Minister Cevdet Yılmaz’s response to the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Istanbul deputy Ali Torlak’s parliamentary question about “migration to Istanbul and the problems stemming from it” revealed some interesting data. “The population migrating to Istanbul from other provinces is more qualified in education level when compared to Istanbul’s overall population, but it could be said that it is less qualified when compared to migrants in Turkey overall,” Yılmaz said. According to the data 1,653,295 people migrated to Istanbul between January 2007 and December 2011. Istanbul received the most migrants from Tokat, while Ankara comes in second place as a source with 69,589 people and Ordu is third with 55,355. Within the same period, the fewest migrants came from Burdur, with 878 people. Among migrants above the age of 15, high school graduates made up the largest proportion with 25.54 percent. The proportion of high school graduates among the population migrating from one province to another is 32.94 percent. The proportion of primary school graduates coming to Istanbul is 23.26 percent.

The proportion of primary school graduates among the migrants in Turkey overall is 21.84 percent. While the proportion of university graduates migrating to Istanbul is 13.12 percent, the proportion of the same group among migrants in Turkey overall is 15.22 percent.

The proportion of primary school graduates in Istanbul’s overall population is 33.56 percent, while it is 21.96 percent for high school graduates and 9.86 percent for university graduates. Among migrants above the age of 15, 611 people have doctorates and 2,677 have master’s degrees. The number of university graduates is 41,466; while 80,719 finished high school, 11,431 finished secondary school, 37,595 finished elementary school, and 73,222 finished primary school. There are 17,695 people who are literate but did not finish any school and 16,484 illiterate people had migrated to Istanbul.

Turkey overallIn Turkey overall, the number of migrants above the age of 15 is 1,782,480. Among them, 83,832 are illiterate and 78,495 are literate did not complete any school. Primary school was completed by 389,166; elementary school by 172,269; secondary school by 66,578; high school by 586,940; and 271,289 are university graduates. Additionally, 15,101 migrants have master’s degrees, while 3,968 have doctoral degrees.